“Personification of Tolerance”, a statue displayed in Lužánky. Part of a larger display honoring Joseph II that was dismantled by Czech nationalists following their independence, as it was considered a symbol of German culture
Over the last few years, I run across more frequently than I feel like I should, a level of intolerance on subjects, but most frequently in a “political” context. I am amazed how many things that I don’t believe to be political are made into something “political”, but to hopefully keep on point…
I came across the concept of the “Paradox of Tolerance” during my weekend reading and thought I would share for your consideration.
Political theorist Gaetano Mosca is said to have remarked long before Popper: “If tolerance is taken to the point where it tolerates the destruction of those same principles that made tolerance possible in the first place, it becomes intolerable.”
From Wikipedia: One of the earliest formulations of “paradox of tolerance” is given in the notes of Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies in 1945. Popper raises the paradox in the chapter notes regarding “The Principle of Leadership”, connecting the paradox to his refutation of Plato’s defense of “benevolent despotism”. In the main text, Popper addresses Plato’s similar “paradox of freedom”: Plato points out the contradiction inherent in unchecked freedom, as it implies the freedom to act to limit the freedom of others. Plato argues that true democracy inevitably leads to tyranny and suggests that the rule of an enlightened “philosopher-king” (cf. Noocracy) is preferable to the tyranny of majority rule.
For your non-investment consideration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance